Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program (TELS)

The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program provides scholarship assistance to Tennesseans attending eligible Tennessee institutions. Students apply for the TELS program by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. You should complete your FAFSA early to ensure that you meet the state-designated deadlines each year. TELS program requirements change from time to time, so review application and eligibility requirements regularly to ensure that you remain in full compliance. For deadlines and detailed information, please take a look at the TSAC Lottery Scholarship website. Understanding how dropping classes or changing from full to part-time status may impact your TELS eligibility is especially important. Always consult the MT One Stop before taking action that may affect your enrollment status.

• HOPE Lottery Scholarship
• General Assembly Merit Scholarship
• Aspire Award
• Tennessee HOPE Foster Care Grant
• Non-Traditional HOPE Lottery Scholarship
• Helping Heroes Grant (for qualified Tennessee Veterans)
• Dual Enrollment Grant

Effective Fall 2023, any TELS eligible student who graduates with their baccalaureate degree from an eligible Tennessee college/university on-or-after July 1, 2023 AND has not reached the maximum 5 year TELS program completion limit AND immediately enrolls in an eligible advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral) the semester after receiving baccalaureate degree MAY be eligible to receive TELS funds while working on advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral).

Effective Fall 2023, any TELS eligible student who is enrolled less than half-time in Coursework towards Program of Study (CPoS) may be eligible to receive a less than half-time TELS award amount dependent on the reason why student is enrolled less than ½ time. See Enrollment Status section on this page for more information.

Effective Fall 2022, any Tennessee eligible high school student graduating with an Associate degree OR a current college student who is graduating with an Associate degree will need to provide the MTSU Undergraduate Admissions Office with an official copy of their final high school transcript. The Financial Aid & Scholarship Office need the final high school transcript to confirm your initial eligibility for the Tennessee Lottery Scholarships. A student will NOT be awarded and paid Tennessee Lottery Scholarship funds until the official final high school transcript has been received and reviewed

Effective Fall 2021, Coursework Toward Program of Study (CPoS) will be applicable towards the disbursement of the TN Lottery Scholarships.

• For example, if you are eligible for a TN Lottery Scholarship and enroll in 12 hours and only 6 of the 12 hours are required towards your officially declared program of study, the Lottery Scholarship will be reduced to a half-time award based on 6 hours.

Continuing eligibility for the TN Lottery Scholarships will be based on all attempted coursework in a semester, regardless if applicable towards program of study or not. For more information regarding Coursework Toward Program of Study (CPoS), Click Here. 

Summer lottery scholarships

If you first received the lottery scholarship in the fall 2009 semester or later, you can receive a full lottery scholarship (or a prorated award for part-time enrollment) in the summer as long as you meet eligibility requirements, even if you already received a full-time award in the fall and spring.

You must be enrolled in at least 6 hours to receive a summer lottery scholarship. Your award will be prorated for part-time enrollment (6-11 hours). If you enroll in 1-5 hours, you will not be eligible for a lottery scholarship but your attempted hours and grades will be counted in determining future lottery eligibility.

Your award will be based on your enrollment status. If you are enrolled in at least 12 credit hours, you will be eligible to receive your full one-semester award. If you are enrolled in 6 to 8 hours, you will receive 50% of your normal one-semester amount. If you are enrolled in 9 to 11 hours, you will receive 75% of your normal one-semester amount.

You must enroll in all summer classes by June 14 to receive payment for scholarship. 

All summer lottery funds will be awarded after spring grades are posted in mid-May.   If you have registered for your summer classes and you are eligible, your scholarship will be awarded approximately one week after spring grades are posted.

If you have not received your summer lottery award by June 14^th, please contact the MT One Stop immediately.  We have a limited timeframe in which we can process summer lottery payments. 

*Summer lottery awards will not be applied to any student’s account by the first fee-payment deadline for the summer semester, so you are responsible for paying your tuition and fees not covered by other financial aid.

Please Note: You may require additional steps before summer lottery may be applied to your account if you

• Are a new transfer student for the summer term.
• Are participating in a consortium or study abroad program for the spring and/or summer terms.
• Are only able to register for one course at the beginning of the term due to required prerequisites.

If you fall into any of these categories, please contact the MT One Stop for special assistance.

If you drop or add classes after your lottery scholarship is applied, your scholarship amount may increase or decrease. You will be responsible for repaying any portion of the award that is reduced due to dropping courses before the July Fee Payment Deadline. 

**IMPORTANT** If you add classes after the July fee payment deadline, or fail to contact us about a missing or incorrect award by that date, we will be unable to assist you with scholarship funds. However, the attempted hours and grades will be counted in determining future lottery eligibility. 

If you change your enrollment status by dropping classes after the July Fee Payment Deadline (such as dropping from full-time to less than 12 hours or dropping from part-time to less than 6 hours), you will permanently lose eligibility for the lottery scholarship.

We strongly recommend that you speak with the MT One Stop before stopping attendance, adding or dropping any summer courses after the term starts in May, since such an action may result in having to repay some or all of the scholarship or losing future eligibility for the scholarship.

Home School Students 

Effective Fall 2021, for students who graduated high school on or after July 1^st, 2021, AND are a Tennessee resident who graduate from an approved home school program may be eligible to receive a HOPE Scholarship if they meet the requirements listed below for their specific category of high school:

• Graduating from a Category 3 High School in Tennessee
  • Must have at least an unweighted 3.00 final high school GPA OR
  • Must have achieved a minimum 21 ACT Composite score or equivalent SAT score
• Graduating from a Category 4 or 5 High School in Tennessee
  • Must have achieved a minimum 21 ACT Composite score or equivalent SAT composite score OR
  • Must have completed at least 2 (or 6 hours) dual enrollment courses while in high school AND achieved at least a 3.00 GPA in each of the 2 dual enrollment courses AND a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 in all dual enrollment courses attempted

For information regarding the specific categories of high schools (or nonpublic schools), Click Here. 

Tennessee residents who graduate from an approved home school program AND are eligible to receive a HOPE Scholarship may also be eligible to receive a General Assembly Merit (GAMS) Scholarship if the following is applicable:

• Must meet the initial HOPE Scholarship requirements as a graduate from an approved home school program
• Must have achieved a minimum 29 ACT Composite score or equivalent SAT composite score for GAMS consideration; AND
  • Prior to high school graduation, enrolled in at least four (4) dual enrollment courses totaling at least twelve (12) semester hours at an eligible postsecondary institution and achieved a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0; OR
  • Prior to high school graduation, participated in a Governor’s School program, and achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0; OR
  • Prior to high school graduation, took two (2) Advanced Placement (AP) exams and made a score of at least three (3); OR
  • Prior to high school graduation, took one (1) College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) test and made a score of at least 55

Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) continuing eligibility

To continue to receive your lottery scholarship year after year, you must meet continuing eligibility requirements regarding GPA and enrollment status and federal Satisfactory Academic Progress standards.

GPA requirements

• a 2.75 cumulative TELS GPA after the first 24 and 48 TELS attempted credit hours.
• a 3.0 TELS GPA after attempting 72, 96,  120 and any multiple of 24 credit hours thereafter.
• At the 72 bracket and subsequent checkpoints, a student may provisionally qualify with a 2.75 cumulative TELS GPA and a 3.0 semester GPA. Please see below for the full provisional rules. Grades for all courses taken after high school graduation, including repeated courses, are included in the TELS GPA. 

Continuous enrollment

Students must enroll no later than 16 months after graduation from high school or home school. GED students must enroll within 16 months of the GED test date.

Students may enroll in as little as one credit hour and remain eligible for future semesters; however, all TELS recipients must enroll at least half time (at least 6 credit hours) every fall and spring semester to receive the scholarship for that semester. A TELS recipient is not required to attend during summer terms; however, all summer courses will be included in the TELS attempted hours and GPA.  

“Repeat” provision

You will be allowed to repeat a single class and request that the earlier grade be excluded from the TELS GPA. (A student may repeat multiple classes according to institutional policy, but only one grade may be excluded for TELS purposes.) When you reach the next bracket (at 48, 72, 96 TELS attempted hours) after the course is repeated, the excluded grade will not be considered in determining whether the student meets the GPA requirement.

A student must submit a Repeat Option Request Form to the MT One Stop to request that a repeated grade be excluded.

“Regain” provision

If you lost the Lottery Scholarship because of your grades, you may be able to get it back:

• Must meet requirement of at least a 2.75 TELS GPA after 48 TELS attempted hours, a 3.0 TELS GPA after 72 and 96 TELS attempted hours, or a 2.75 cumulative TELS GPA and a 3.0 semester GPA after 72 and 96 TELS attempted hours (for provisional eligibility); please see below for the full provisional rules.
• Must meet all other continuing eligibility criteria for every semester, including semesters for which the student did not receive a TELS award:
  • Must have been enrolled in at least one hour every fall and spring semester
  • Must have maintained enrollment status for every semester. (For example, a student who enrolled in full-time hours must have finished the semester with at least 12 credit hours.)
  • Must meet all other continuing eligibility criteria as stated in TSAC’s TELS policy.
  • Must submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the current year. The FAFSA must be processed every year by September 1.
     

You may regain the TELS award beginning with the semester after attempting 48, 72, and 96 hours as defined by TSAC’s TELS policy. Awards cannot be applied retroactively to prior semesters. You may submit a Regain Option Form to notify the Financial Aid Office of eligibility under the Regain Provision, or may contact the MT One Stop by email, phone, or in person to request a TELS status review.

Provisional eligibility

A student who, at the end of a semester, reaches the 72 or 96 hour benchmark and has a 2.75 – 2.99 TELS GPA and at least a 3.0 MTSU semester GPA for the current semester in which the benchmark is reached may be provisionally eligible for the TELS award. The student must earn a 3.0 MTSU semester GPA for each semester (including the benchmark semester) and must be enrolled full-time each fall and spring semester to maintain TELS eligibility under the provisional rules. Students may use the Repeat and Regain Options to be eligible under provisional rules.

Please Note: A student using his or her Regain Option must have been enrolled in at least one hour for every fall and spring semester, including semesters for which the student did not receive a TELS award.

Enrollment Status & Fund Disbursement

Eligibility to receive TELS funds for a semester is based on student’s enrollment in Coursework towards their Program of Study (CPoS).  For more information regarding Coursework Toward Program of Study (CPoS), Click Here

A TELS recipient must maintain his or her enrollment status each fall and spring semester. (Example: A student receiving a full-time scholarship must remain enrolled in at least 12 hours through the end of the semester. A student receiving a part-time scholarship must remain enrolled in at least 6 hours through the end of the term.) A student who withdraws or stops attending and drops below the required number of hours will lose the scholarship for all future semesters and may be required to repay all or a portion of the current semester’s awards.

If extenuating circumstances prevent a student from meeting Continuous Enrollment requirements, the student may be eligible for an appeal. Please visit the Financial Aid Appeals webpage for more information about filing a TELS appeal. TELS Appeals can only be approved if a student is ineligible due to failure to meet enrollment requirements; MTSU is not able to approve appeals for students who fail to meet GPA requirements, regardless of extenuating circumstances.

The disbursement of TELS funds is also based on student’s enrollment in Coursework towards their Program of Study (CPoS) for semester. Students enrolled full-time are eligible to receive the maximum amount. Students enrolled less than full-time will have their TELS awards prorated based on enrollment.

Effective Fall 2023, any TELS eligible student who is enrolled less than half-time in Coursework towards Program of Study (CPoS) MAY be eligible to receive a less than half-time TELS award amount dependent on the reason why student is enrolled less than ½ time. Approved reasons for enrolling less than half-time are defined as:

• Student is in final semester of college and is expected to graduate at end of semester
• Student unable to enroll half-time or greater in CPoS eligible coursework for semester
• Student’s Program of study restricts students to enrolling less than half-time for semester

Students who are enrolled less than half-time CPoS and meet 1 of the approved reasons above should complete the Lottery Less Than Half-Time Exception Request form for MTSU to determine eligibility for a less than ½ time TELS award. Documentation of inability to enroll half-time or greater (i.e. statement from Advisor, printout of DegreeWorks) will be required to be submitted with the Lottery Less Than Half-Time Exception Request form in order for request to be approved.

Time limits

Effective starting the Fall 2023 semester, a TELS recipient who meets the above requirements may receive the Hope Scholarship until the first of the following events occurs:

• Five years have passed from the initial date of enrollment (even if you have not received the lottery scholarship for some or all of the five years).
• The student completes advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral). Completion of baccalaureate degree is no longer a terminating event. 

Non-Traditional Lottery Scholarship

Effective for the fall 2022 semester, students who are considered independent for financial aid purposes, per the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), may qualify for a lottery scholarship of up to $2,850.00 per semester.  A student must meet residency, financial need, and academic requirements to qualify.

You may qualify for a Tennessee Non-Traditional HOPE Scholarship if you are able to answer YES to the following questions:

1. You have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the current academic year
2. You are a Tennessee resident
3. Your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), including spouse’s if married, is equal or less than $36,000.00
4. You do NOT have a Bachelor’s degree
5. You have attempted at least 12 credit hours, and you have minimally maintained a cumulative GPA of at least 2.75, on coursework attempted for the fall 2022 semester or after*

*Per TSAC guidance, coursework earned prior to the fall 2022 semester may not be considered to establish eligibility under the “new” non-traditional lottery rules that take effect for the fall 2022 semester

To request a review of your eligibility, please complete the Tennessee Lottery Non-Traditional Review Form.

TN Reconnect Grant to Non-Traditional HOPE Scholarship Pathway

If you are transferring to MTSU, and either received or were eligible to receive the Tennessee Reconnect Grant at your prior school, you may qualify for a lottery Scholarship of up to $2,850.00 per semester.  A student must meet residency and academic requirements to qualify.

                You may qualify for a Tennessee Non-Traditional HOPE Scholarship through the TN-Reconnect Grant Pathway if you are able to answer YES to the following questions:

1. You have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the current academic year
2. You are a Tennessee resident
3. Your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), including spouse’s if married, is equal or less than $36,000.00
4. You do NOT have a Bachelor’s degree
5. You graduated with an Associate’s degree while maintaining eligibility for the Tennessee Reconnect Grant
6. You immediately enrolled or are enrolling in a Bachelor’s degree program at MTSU within one required semester of graduation with your Associate’s degree (summer is not a required semester)

To request a review of your eligibility, please complete the Tennessee Lottery Non-Traditional Review Form.

Non-traditional Continuing Eligibility requirements

A student who initially qualifies for a lottery scholarship under non-traditional rules will continue to be eligible for the award as long as he or she meets continuing eligibility requirements and has an Adjusted Gross Income of $36,000 or less on the FAFSA. If a student meets all renewal criteria other than the AGI requirement, the student will not be eligible to receive an award at that time but may be able to qualify in the future.

Effective starting the Fall 2021 semester, an Eligible non-traditional student shall continue receiving the HOPE Scholarship until the FIRST of the following TERMINATING events:

• The student completes an advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral). Completion of baccalaureate degree is no longer a terminating event; or
• Five (5) years have passed since the student enrolled in an eligible post-secondary institution as a non-traditional student

TELS for Advanced Degrees (i.e. Masters or Doctoral)

Effective Fall 2023 – If you received a baccalaureate degree from an eligible Tennessee institution on-or-after July 1, 2023, you received either the traditional or non-traditional HOPE Lottery Scholarships for at least 1 semester, if you have not already reached your maximum 5 year Lottery program completion limit, AND if you are enrolled in an eligible advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral), you may continue to receive your Lottery Scholarships until 1 of the following events occurs:

• The student reaches the maximum 5 year TELS program completion limit, OR
• The student completes an advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral). Completion of baccalaureate degree is no longer a terminating event. 

Students must enroll in the next immediate required Fall or Spring semester after graduating with their baccalaureate degree to maintain TELS continuing eligibility. Failure to do so will result in a total and permanent loss of TELS eligibility; however, if student has a valid and documentable circumstance, they may appeal the loss. For more information on filing an appeal, please visit: https://www.mtsu.edu/financial-aid/appeals/#lottery.

Students will NOT receive a TELS award for courses attempted towards a certificate (undergraduate or graduate) program OR on a 2^nd baccalaureate degree. For lottery purposes, these programs are NOT considered advanced degrees. However if student maintains continuing eligibility while enrolled in certificate program or 2^nd baccalaureate degree program, does not reach a terminating TELS event, and later enrolls in an eligible advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral), student MAY potentially be eligible to receive a TELS awards as a graduate student at that time. 

An Advanced degree (i.e. Masters or Doctoral) TELS recipient must maintain their enrollment status each Fall and Spring semester. (For example, a graduate student receiving a full-time award must remain enrolled in at least 9 graduate level hours through the end of the semester. A graduate student receiving a part-time award must remain enrolled in at least 5 graduate level hours through the end of the semester.) A student who withdraws or stops attending and drops below the required number of hours will lose eligibility for all future semesters, and may be required to repay all or some of the current semester awards.

For Advanced degree (i.e. Masters or Doctoral) TELS purposes, enrollment status at MTSU is defined below. Students must be enrolled at least ½ time to be eligible to receive TELS funds for semester:

• Full-Time: 9 or more credit hours
• ¾ Time: 7-8 credit hours
• ½ Time: 5-6 credit hours
• Less than ½ time: 1-4 credit hours
  • Students enrolled less than ½ time MAY be eligible to receive funds for semester dependent on reason why student is enrolled less than ½ time. Student would need to complete Lottery Less Than Half-Time Exception Request form for MTSU to determine eligibility for less than ½ time TELS award

As with undergraduate TELS, advanced degree TELS may only be awarded and paid on credit hours towards an eligible program of study. Coursework Toward Program of Study (CPoS) is applicable towards the disbursement of TELS awards.

Transferring your Lottery Scholarship to MTSU from another institution

If you are currently receiving a Tennessee Educational Lottery Scholarship (TELS) scholarship at another college or university, you will need to be sure that you complete the following steps so that your scholarship will follow you when you transfer to MTSU. 

These steps are also applicable for students who are admitted into an Advanced degree program (i.e. Masters or Doctoral) at MTSU, who previously received TELS at a prior institution, who have remaining years of eligibility, and who graduated with their 1^st baccalaureate degree on-or-after July 1, 2023.

1)  Submit your prior college transcripts to the MTSU Admissions Office      Submit all of your prior college transcripts to MTSU’s Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Here is how to check your MTSU transcript:

Go to pipeline.mtsu.edu and log in

• Click on Registration & Student Recordson the left menu
• Click on the Transcript icon
• Enter the Transcript Level and Transcript Type and click Submit
• Scroll down to the bottom to check for the most recent semester’s grades

2)  Notify the Financial Aid Office at your current school
Inform your current school’s Financial Aid Office that you are planning to transfer, so they can cancel your future aid (including the lottery scholarship and any other grants, loans, or scholarships you are receiving there). 

3)  Add MTSU to Your FAFSA
If you did not list MTSU on your FAFSA as one of the institutions to receive your information, you will need to add our school code. The Federal School Code for MTSU is 003510.

4)  Notify TSAC that you are changing schoolsIt is important that you inform the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) of which school you plan to attend. You may do so by visiting College Pays TN’s Student Portal. It is recommended that you use the Student Portal, since it is processed by TSAC immediately. If you choose to send the paper form, please allow 2 weeks for processing. If you have any questions you can contact TSAC by calling them at (800) 342-1663 or (615) 741-1346.

• Go to Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation website.
• Log in to the TSAC Student Portal.
  • If you have not previously logged in to the system, you will be required to create an account at the link provided.
• After signing in, locate the area displaying the current academic year.
• Select link stating “Click here to process an institution transfer request for Academic Year 20__-20__”.
• Select drop down menu beside “Transfer to” and select institution you will be attending.
• Select “Process Transfer Request”.

5)  Submit a TELS Transfer Notification form to the MT One StopIf you are an Undergraduate student seeking your 1^st baccalaureate degree – When you see all your transfer credits on your MTSU transcript, and you have made MTSU your school of record with TSAC for the applicable award year, complete the online MTSU TELS Transfer Notification Form. If you are a Graduate student you has already received their baccalaureate degree on-or-after July 1, 2023 from an eligible Tennessee institution, and are now seeking an Advanced degree (i.e. Masters or Doctoral) at MTSU, please complete the online TELS Graduate Transfer Notification form.

6)  Are you transferring to MTSU mid-year?If you are transferring to MTSU in the middle of the academic year (for example, if you transfer in the spring after attending another school in the fall), please be aware that you may not receive your lottery award prior to the fee payment deadline and the beginning of classes, depending on the timing of when you complete all steps for eligibility processing. MTSU is required by state policies to verify your initial and continuing eligibility, and this process cannot be completed until you have taken all steps noted above.

7)  Are you transferring back to Tennessee after attending an out-of-state college or university?If you were initially eligible for a TELS award upon completion of high school requirements, and were enrolled at a regionally accredited out-of-state post-secondary institution within 16 months after graduation, and are now transferring to an eligible Tennessee post-secondary institution, you may be eligible to receive the TELS award.

Please Note: If you received your baccalaureate degree from an out-of-state institution, and you are transferring to MTSU in pursuit of an Advanced degree (i.e. Masters or Doctoral), you are ineligible to receive TN Lottery Scholarships; regardless of your eligibility at the point of graduating from high school.

Checking your Lottery Scholarship status

It’s important to periodically check your lottery scholarship status and other lottery information on your PipelineMT account. Here’s how!

How do I check my Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) status and eligibility?

It’s important to periodically check your lottery scholarship status and other lottery information on your PipelineMT account. Here’s how!

• Go to pipeline.mtsu.edu and log in
• Click on Financial Aid in the left menu
• Click Lottery Eligibility icon
• Select the term you want to check (ex. fall 2017)

The information at the top of the page is your eligibility information. If you’ve lost your TELS award due to not meeting the GPA requirement at a benchmark, or you’ve lost your TELS eligibility by dropping too many classes, this section will tell you that.

Don’t see your Tennessee Educational Lottery Scholarship (TELS) on your account?

The most common cause of a missing TELS award is that you listed a school other than MTSU first on your FAFSA. If you did, the state is going to plan to send your lottery scholarship funds to that other school!

Inform the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) of which school you plan to attend. You may do so by visiting College Pays TN’s Student Portal. This is called changing your ‘school of record’. We recommend that you use the Student Portal to change your school of record, since it is processed by TSAC immediately; if you choose to send the paper form, please allow 2 weeks for processing.

If you have any questions you can contact TSAC by calling them at (800) 342-1663 or (615) 741-1346.

Please contact the MT One Stop after you update your school of record on the TSAC database for the applicable award year.

Your award may not be posted because your high school may not have reported your final cumulative GPA to TSAC, or your GPA may have been reported so recently that TSAC has not yet notified MTSU.

Check with your high school counselor to make sure that he or she intends to report your final cumulative GPA to TSAC, the state agency which administers the lottery scholarship. 

Please note that your high school guidance office cannot update your final GPA to TSAC until after you have graduated from high school.

Please contact the MT One Stop once you have verified that your High School Guidance Office has reported your GPA to TSAC.

You may not yet be able to see any financial aid posted to your MTSU student account, including the lottery scholarship or student loan offers. 

• We may not have received your FAFSA yet; please file a FAFSA.
• You may not have listed MTSU on your FAFSA; please add MTSU (003510) to your FAFSA.
• Your FAFSA may have been selected for verification, and we may still be waiting for you to submit required verification documents. Please submit the required documents; you should have received an email via your MTSU email account with information about how to view the list of requirements.

You should receive an email regarding your financial aid package approximately 2-3 weeks after you file your FAFSA or submit your FAFSA to MTSU, if you have not been selected for verification.

You should receive an email regarding your financial aid package approximately 3-4 weeks after you submit all required verification paperwork.